Lawrence Hill's new middle-grade novel Beatrice and Croc Harry examines identity with a sense of fun and magic
Lawrence Hill's writing always dives deeply into race, identity and belonging. Those issues form the bedrock of his latest book, too, but this time we see another side to him.
Hill is the acclaimed author of The Book of Negroes and The Illegal, both bestsellers and Canada Reads winners. Beatrice and Croc Harry is his first book for children. It's an adventure story full of magic, whimsy and exquisite wordplay. It tells the story of a girl named Beatrice and her adventures in the magical forest of Argilia, as she tries to find her family and makes an unlikely alliance with the 700-pound crocodile.
Hill spoke with Shelagh Rogers about writing his first children's book, Beatrice and Croc Harry.
Writing for children
"Beatrice and Croc Harry was a book that I had within me and it was a book that I was ready to write. I'd been meaning to write another book — which I still need to write about the Alaska Highway — but somehow I was struggling with that book; I think because I was grieving the death of my mother and my sister, and I was having trouble lifting myself out of that grief.
I wrote it because it was a book that my heart was ready to dive into.
"And finally, I thought, "I can't go on banging my head against the wall when the book's not coming. I have to have something in me. What can I do? What do I need to write now?" This is a book that came to me, and I was obviously ready to write it because once I started, it just began to pour out of me like a geyser. I wrote it because it was a book that my heart was ready to dive into.
"It was such a joy to write, and it soothed me and comforted me and entertained me more I think than any book I've written before. So the joy I felt in writing it, I hope it lands on the page for the reader too."
Storytelling tradition
"My mother read to us faithfully, and I still remember Disobedience by A.A. Milne:
James James
Morrison Morrison
Weatherby George Dupree
Took great
Care of his mother,
Though, he was only three.
The language is overblown and the concept is ridiculous and ludicrous. And of course, it was delightful for me to hear a poem about a little boy lecturing his mother — very appealing to a little child that you hear that idea. My mother read with such gusto and I loved her enthusiasm. It was so infectious.
My mother read with such gusto and I loved her enthusiasm. It was so infectious.
"And my father just told us stories, and he could mimic the sounds and voices of other people, or animals. And he just made up the most fantastic and impossible stories, with lions wrestling bears — that kind of thing. So I was trying to go into the feelings of family in order to soothe myself about the loss I felt.
The real Beatrice
"The best way to tell a story is you make the protagonist really resemble the listener. If the protagonist of the story resembles one of the listeners, you really catch the interest of the child much more — especially, if the protagonist is a little older, a little wiser and is involved in the adventures that are a little bit beyond the reach of the listener.
The best way to tell a story is you make the protagonist really resemble the listener.
"I told my daughter Beatrice stories nightly for a few years about a girl who was always duelling with a 700-pound crocodile and she'd always just narrowly escape being devoured by the crocodile to live another day. She just loved these stories of all the magical ways that she escaped — sometimes even from within the belly of the crocodile. So my own Beatrice loved these stories and made me promise that I'd write a book about this and dedicate it to her. So finally, 15 years later, I got around to it."
Balancing humour and harsh realities
"I do feel that it's really mandatory to let enough shafts of light in a story so that the child can feel uplifted by it and not beaten down by it. I don't want to beat down any child. But do I want to flinch from real issues such as racism or the courage involved in confronting injustice? No. Do I want to help a child laugh and have some fun and dance through this story that has a painful bed underneath it? Yes.
I love the idea of trying to be funny about painful things.
"I do feel I have a responsibility to uplift the child. But I also don't want to flinch from heavy issues if I need to address them. I feel that I'm going after the same issues that have concerned me in my whole life as a writer. But I've just found a different way to come at them, with a different voice and a different kind of language and a different story. And I love the idea of trying to be funny about painful things."
Lawrence Hill's comments have been edited for length and clarity.
